2013 Fantasy Football

Week 3 Recap: The Not-So-Giants

posted by Jeff

As fake footballers, we endure a wide array of weekly outcomes. Winning sure is fun, but on the complete opposite end of the spectrum we have instances like the week three performance of the New York Giants. Not only did New York fail to score a single point, but looking at the box score from their steamrolling in Carolina is stuff that will make fantasy football owners break out in cold sweats. Eli Manning, David Wilson, Victor Cruz, and every other fantasy relevant player you can name were all non-existent in week three and we are creeping ever closer to panic time in the Big Apple. The G-Men travel to Kansas City in week four so don’t count on fantasy production from Eli and his pals anytime soon. Scroll below for more highs and lows from week three…

Eli Manning: Peyton’s little brother continued his sucktastic start to the 2013 season as he threw for a mere 119 yards while the Giants got clobbered by Carolina. David Wilson (39 yds) and Hakeem Nicks (zero catches) joined in on this sloppy effort and the entire Giants offense is beginning to see buzzards circling overhead.

Cecil Shorts: The Jags got walloped by Seattle but Shorts emerged with eight catches for 143 yards despite a brutal matchup. He seems to be responding with Chad Henne at quarterback so keep an eye on the status of Blaine Gabbert. Either way, Cecil seems to be about all the Jags have in the fantasy department outside of a busted up MJD.

Russell Wilson: After throwing a four pack of touchdowns, Wilson has shown signs of fake football life. Wilson looked solid, although it was against Jacksonville, and has left Marshawn Lynch owners wondering what could have been after throwing in the redzone instead of feeding the Skittles beast.

Johnathan Franklin: The revolving door at running back in Green Bay spun once again and this time it was Franklin’s turn after James Starks left the game early. Franklin had a speedy 13 carries for 103 yards and a score, but also had a costly fumble late in the game. Eddie Lacy will be back after Green Bay’s week four bye, so don’t go waiver wire crazy for this one.

DeMarco Murray: As Dallas hammered St. Louis, it was Murray doing the heavy lifting with 175 yards on the ground and another 28 through the air. Dallas seemed committed to the running game in week one but ignored Murray in week two, and now we have this effort in week three. I lean toward the side of Murray’s production continuing so keep him in your lineup and go grab yourself a cold one. San Diego is up next for DeMarco and the ‘Boys.

Jake Locker: In a strange twist of events, Jake Locker played like the Jake Locker that Tennessee thought they were getting when they drafted Jake Locker. He is still on your waiver wire most likely, but 299 passing yards and another 68 on the ground should slide him over to your “watch list.” As always, consistency is key for Locker so we will see how he handles the Jets next week.

Josh Gordon: After a brief two game hiatus for breaking the NFL’s substance abuse policy, Josh Gordon was back in action this week and looked like a stone cold beast in catching 10 passes for 146 yards and a touchdown. Fantasy owners’ fears of Brian Hoyer’s impact at quarterback were eased and it appears that the duo will be working together for the foreseeable future. If you were stashing Gordon on your bench, congratulations and thanks for reading The Fake Football!

Joique Bell: With Reggie Bush out, Bell filled in admirably as he racked up 132 total yards and a touchdown. The Redskins defense doesn’t really care much about stopping opposing offenses, but Bell was solid nonetheless. Even with Bush back in the mix, Bell will hold some nice value through bye weeks.

Julio Jones: In a non-shocker, Julio was himself on Sunday as he caught nine passes for 115 yards on 12 targets. Roddy White was still not a factor as he was targeted only four times and still can’t shake his ankle injury. This is a picture perfect scenario for Julio owners and we can expect much of the same from this stud throughout the season.

C.J. Spiller: After running for a nausea inducing 10 yards on nine carries, Spiller left Buffalo’s game early with a knee injury. No details have emerged regarding the knee, but stay tuned to The Fake Football this week for more analysis. Until then, we will be holding a bake sale with all proceeds funding a search party for Spiller’s fantasy value.

Trent Richardson: The newest Colt found the end zone on his first carry, but was on the short end of the backfield workload split with Ahmad Bradshaw (by a 19 to 13 score). You can safely expect that ratio to bend significantly in Richardson’s direction as he becomes more familiar with Indianapolis’ scheme and Bradshaw suffers 27 more foot injuries.

Cam Newton: Cam finally erupted with 3 passing scores and another one via the ground game. Newton’s breakout was inevitable, but let’s hope he continues his Superman ways after Carolin’s week four bye.

Antonio Brown: The Steelers lost yet again on Sunday night, but Large Ben got his top target heavily involved as they attempted to score with the Bears. Brown ended with nine grabs for 196 yards and two amazing touchdown catches. Brown will produce as long as Ben has time in the pocket, which won’t happen every week. He will remain in the low-end WR2 district, which is a little rundown but has some nice areas.

Jeff was the only 7th grader at Sumner Jr. High playing fantasy football in 1995. When he isn't on the diamond playing softball or on the couch watching NFL RedZone, you can catch him on Twitter @Jeff_Brubach.

kenny britt is understandably droppable at this point right? shown nothing and next 5 weeks are nyj, kc, @sea, san fran, bye. trying to get b. bolden. britt still has a %own of 94 on espn but i dont really see the point of keeping him because i usually play a rb (lamar) in the flex and my bench wrs (a.jefferey, blackmon, m.floyd) are all higher upside. team is fine i would be 3-0 if it werent for a stat correction week 1

thanks jeff, what do you think about trading lamar miller/antonio brown/witten for fitz/torrey/g.olsen non-ppr. he needs a rb bad. i think i would offer for julio in place of fitz first but i doubt he bites

Cochise

September 24, 2013
12:08:27 pm

Hola Jeff, Im in a 12 team standard league Ive got Cobb on bye, should I roll with Fitz and Decker and flex Gio or Miles Austin? Ive been thinking about Thompkins off waivers too

8 team ppr.2 qb league currently 3-0.Wrs are Andre Johnson,Demaryius Thomas,Wallace,Gordon,Givens.Rbs are Bush,Bell,Murray,Wilson,Miller,Charles Te is Thomas,.Would you hold onto Murray?Or try and sell high?His injury history concerns me.If I trade him who should I target?

I would hang on to him. He is injury prone sure, but as we’ve seen this season any RB can go down at any moment. Dallas seems like they’re making more of an effort to get him the ball this year (outside of wk 2).

I don’t know that the deal will do much for you. Vick may be a slight upgrade to Wilson at the moment but you’d lose a little bit in the other spots. Wilson will throw more as the season moves along so I would probably look for a different deal.